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Congolese orphan finds new, warm home in Boone

Taking a moment in the Norris home, from left, are Alysha Roberts, Naomi Norris and Tresor Moolo, a Congo orphan now living with the Norrises.

By Jon Lloyd, Staff Writer

Tresor Moolo said that he wants “to be a leader one day.”

“I’d like to do international work, where I can travel and help people,” he said. “Work with orphans, youth groups.”

It seems he’s been destined for that since he was a boy, scraping out a hardscrabble existence as an orphan in Gemena, the capital city of the Sud-Ubangi District of Equateur Province in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, formerly Zaire.

Last week, Moolo, 21, sat down in his new home in Boone with the woman, Naomi Norris, that brought him (Tresor is pronounced TRAY-SOR) to America and into the Norris home where he now lives, and shared his story.

“It’s an amazing life story,” Norris said.

Boone residents might be familiar with Norris, 52, and her husband, Rob Norris, about to turn 51. She and her friends started Kids for Congo, a non-profit group serving orphans in the DR Congo, in 2009. Then, four teenagers from Boone traveled to the Congo to meet and help orphans.

Norris said UNICEF has put the number of orphans living in the Congo – about one third the size of the U.S. - at 4.3 million.

Residents might also be familiar with the Christmas Tour of Homes, which Norris led on Dec. 7-9. For a nominal fee, she took people on a tour of five Boone homes, both old and new, as a fundraiser for Kids for Congo. The tour, along with proceeds from the sales of crafts at the Renegade Craft Show in Chicago, raised $4,000, she said.

Travelling to the Congo in 2011 as Kids for Congo, Norris took her two daughters, Jesse, 19, and Jenna, 18, both currently attending college in the Chicago area, and two of their friends, including Alysha Roberts, to the Elykia Center in Gemena, which has a population of about 138,500.

“We went to help the director of the Elykia Center, which is a one-year trade school for orphans that teaches them carpentry, masonry and seamstress sewing and other trades,” Norris said.

That’s where they met Moolo when he was 18 (He turned 21 on Nov. 21; he attends Des Moines Area Community College, Boone, and studies computer administration).

Norris’ own ties to the Congo began when she was 20 years old. And she didn’t like it very much. She went to visit her sister, Rachel Martin, an Ames resident when she’s in-country, who works as a liaison for GlobalFingerprints, which is the child sponsorship ministry of ReachGlobal, an arm of the Evangelical Free Church of America, which helps the needy worldwide.

“It’s primitive compared to here,” Norris said. “You haul water from the river. It’s hot and humid. There’s no electricity in the villages. There are no paved roads. They’re single-lane dirt roads.”

“I didn’t enjoy it the first time,” she said. “Then 20 years went by.”

She got involved with helping orphans there six years ago, she said. On their 2011 trip to the Elykia Center they “randomly” met Moolo, who speaks English, plus five other languages, including French and three area dialects, including Ngbaka and Lingala. Norris’s daughters and friends would play soccer at the Center with Moolo and his team, Monaco.

“He spoke English and he would translate for us,” Norris said.

“I’d like to learn Spanish,” said Moolo, quick with a bright smile, his bright eyes riveting. “I’d like to learn many languages.”

“My mom died first,” he said. “Her name was Eda. She died from pneumonia (“or tuberculosis,” Norris said). She was 35.”

That was 2003. Soon after, his father, Moolo, died at age 37.

“Children take the name of their father as their last name,” Norris said. “Many don’t use last names.”

“Tresor’s father was a mechanic who worked for Cecu at the Elykia Center. He went to work in Zong and when he came back he was poisoned,” Norris said, adding that two companions were also poisoned. They were taken to the hospital, but Moolo’s father and a companion died.

“I was the second of five sons,” Moolo said. “When my father died my older brother left. I took care of my younger brothers, Fidel (now 19), Goli (15) and Daniel (11).” The three brothers are currently living in Gemena, Norris said, adding that Goli means “glory.”

Moolo and his brothers lived with their uncle, Post Kangala. Moolo took care of his brothers, making sure they were clothed and fed. At night he sold “diesel” to locals out of a pop bottle. He made a $1 a night.

“$1.15 on a good night,” he said, beaming his irrespressible smile.

Moolo would get diesel at the market, Norris said, explaining that it’s a common practice for the locals – and children like Moolo – to sell diesel out of pop bottles or larger containers. He used the money to pay for schooling for his brothers and himself, she said.

“You pay for school there,” Norris said. “School costs per child, about $18 a semester. Tresor did this for two years to feed his brothers and keep them in school, at age 13.”

Occasionally, Moolo would give diesel to a couple who told him they would pay him later, which they did. They also started helping him with food and money and they introduced him to Tete and Vero, “who sold fabrics and needed help in her business,” Norris said.

Moolo helped and he became close with Tete. At that time his daily schedule was rise at 5 a.m., go to school in the morning then go to the market. Get water. Sell diesel at night.

“I’d sleep a few hours at night,” he said.

“He did well in school,” Norris said. “He got a scholarship and went to Elykia Center High School, which is not associated with the Elykia Center.”

Tete’s husband, Chambyi, left her “when she was pregnant and alone in the house and went to the city,” Norris said. “Tresor helped her.”

“She treated me like a son,” Moolo said. “It was very hard for her. She had a little girl, Ketshia. We helped each other.”

Moolo then ran into a very good friend of his father, Mowa, who was the director of the Elykia Center for orphans. He was not in the area when Moolo’s father died and he did not recognize Moolo.

“He stopped,” Moolo said. “He said, ‘Who are you?’ I told him ‘I am the son of Moolo.’ He remembered me.”

Mowa got him enrolled in the trade school, where he studied construction and “he paid for school for my brothers,” Moolo said.

“Mowa died in October 2011,” Norris said, adding they were not sure from what. “Poison maybe. People put spells on people there. Witchcraft. People were jealous of Mowa. He left six children.” He was 42.

“When Mowa died he was like a father to me,” Moolo said.

“Rob and I sponsor Mowa’s six children,” Norris said, adding they also help Mowa’s wife, Luta, a nurse in a clinic.

To help Tete return to her home village, Moolo gave her $200 for food. Others raised $400 for the boat ticket for the ride up the Congo River.

“She was very sick,” Moolo said. “She had no money to go home. I told her, ‘You are my mom. If I go to U.S. you will die (if left alone). I’m sorry that I am leaving you.’”

Since then, they have been in touch by phone.

“She called me,” he said, “and said, ‘I’m home.’”

Moolo walked into his new home in Boone with the Norrises on Aug. 6.

“I bring him home and he goes to college,” Norris said.

Joni Gainer of Boone raised $800 through her children’s art classes and sent it to Moolo, who spent two months in the capital waiting for his visa and getting his passport. Norris sent him money to live on, she said.

“Tresor’s a very good soccer player,” she added. “He wants to start an adult league here.”

Moolo played forward for his Elykia Center team, Monaco, and scored often. His favorite soccer team is Manchester England Soccer Team.

“I want to play for them some day,” he said, smiling.

When Moolo graduates from DMACC he plans to attend Moody Bible Institute in Chicago, Norris said.

“It’s an information technology program with a Christian emphasis,” she said.

“I want to find a good job and help my brothers,” Moolo said, “and be the good person God wants me to be.”

“It seems to me,” Norris said, “like God has had his hand on him since year one.”